


Onomatopoeia

by incomprehensiblemetaphor



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-06
Updated: 2016-09-06
Packaged: 2018-08-13 10:06:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7972945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/incomprehensiblemetaphor/pseuds/incomprehensiblemetaphor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pike's abysmal stealth skills turn out to not be such a bad thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Onomatopoeia

_Tink!_

That was the sound that Pike's armor made when it clipped against the stone wall in Whitestone's castle. She stopped dead and waited, cheeks flushed. Several seconds passed and there was nothing. She took a tentative step forward, easing her boot down onto the runner in the middle of the hall. Even the bending of the carpet's short fibers rustled in her ears. She was always this loud whether she was trying to be quiet or not, but for some reason the clips and creaks of her armor always seemed louder when she didn't want them to be heard.

_Clang!_

That was the sound her armor made when it collided with a statue that stuck out just a bit farther than she thought it did.

… _?_

Pike wasn't entirely sure how to represent the sound that her armor made when her foot caught an unseen divot in the floor and she stumbled, arms flailing, down the stairs and directly into something that smelled of lightning and leaves and made a surprised sort of yelping sound.

“Pike! Are you okay?”

Pike scrambled back a step. “Sorry! I'm fine.” She plastered a smile on her face and hoped that it distracted from the blush that was still coloring her cheeks.

Keyleth held her gaze for a second, then bent down and picked up the small, leather pouch that Pike had dropped when they collided. “What's this?” Keyleth weighed it in her hand and frowned.

“It's just a project.” Pike held out her hand and waited for the druid to hand it back to her.

“A project with... seeds?”

It did make sense that Keyleth would take about half a second to figure out what was in the pouch. She probably could feel all the little sparks of plant life through the leather.

When Pike failed to say anything to explain, Keyleth pulled the drawstring loose and looked through the contents. “Did Percy give you these?”

“Cassandra, actually.”

“Do you know if she has any more? I was thinking about starting a garden here since... well, since we're probably going to be here a while and I had a lot of these plants back in Emon.”

“All of them, actually.” Pike felt another blush creeping up on her cheeks. Part of her wanted to snatch the bag from Keyleth's hand, somehow, and run off down the hall, but a stronger part of her made her square her shoulders and look up at the druid. “Come with me.”

“Where are we going?”

Pike reached up and grabbed her free hand and started to pull her long, her face splitting in a smile. For the first few steps, Keyleth stumbled, but soon she found her feet and the two of them were racing down the hall, catching a few confused looks from people that they passed.

There were a few sections of the castle that even Cassandra tended to avoid. She wouldn't say anything about it, but Pike thought it might have something to do with the Briarwoods. Thankfully, that meant that Pike hadn't had to worry about anybody disturbing what she'd been working on between helping the refugees and catching a precious few hours of sleep each nice.

“Pike, where are you taking me?”

Pike brought them stumbling to a halt in front of a set of wooden doors. “I started when you left for the Feywild. I wanted to be farther along before I showed you, but...” Pike trailed off as Keyleth pressed a hand to one of the doors and slowly pushed it open.

Even through the clouds, sunlight streamed through the doorway. As it fell across Keyleth's face, she gasped. “Pike....”

“It's not as big as you had back at the Keep, but--”

“It's beautiful.”

The space was a small, circular area filled with every crate that Pike could find. She'd spent the better part of the past few days filling them with soil from the surrounding area, some of which was spilling out into the walkways between them. Pike watched as Keyleth started to wander down the rows, looking like she was in some state of awe. She turned and looked back at Pike, who was still standing in the doorway. “You did this for me?”

“I wanted to get something planted before I showed you, so you could pick up where you left off.”

Keyleth looked at the pouch of seeds in her hand.

Pike walked up towards her and when she spoke, there was a bit of a nervous giggle in her voice. “It took a while for Cassandra to find all of the seeds, and I don't know if I got everything exactly right, but I thought it would make you feel a little more at home at least, and--”

She stopped talking abruptly when Keyleth threw her arms around her. “It's perfect. Pike, I... I don't even know what to say.” After a long moment, she let go and pulled back, looking like she was searching for something in Pike's face. “Maybe we could... plant these together?”

The smile tugging at Pike's face was so strong that all she could do was nod.

_Tok!_

A large seed fell into the divot that Keyleth pressed into the soil with her thumb and hit a rock. Pike smoothed some soil over it and turned to watch the druid moved on to the next spot. She was in her element and Pike had never seen her look so beautiful.

They worked for hours, but neither noticed the time passing. When Cassandra finally came to fetch them, the sun was setting and the others were getting worried. The two of them were smiling almost breathlessly. Keyleth had a smudge on her nose and Pike could feel dirt crusting under her nails. Cassandra cast Pike a knowing look as the doors closed behind them, but Pike didn't really mind. Cassandra and Gilmore and all of them could look at her however they wanted. Until Vox Machina had to part ways again, she would have days in that garden with Keyleth. It was worth anything that they might say.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> These two are so fun to write.  
> This loosely follows from my last Pikeleth fic, so that's where the bit about Gilmore in the last paragraph comes from. I wrote this at night and edited before I had my coffee, so please tell me if there's anything that needs to be improved!


End file.
